I would like to thank Richard and Helen Thorne for their kind invitation to their Christmas Party last month. It was interesting to hear from the Morgan Factory’s guest speaker, Jon Wells - chief designer at the Morgan Motor Company - giving a talk about the development of the latest Aero 8. A key design aim was to bring down its cost by 50k – a worthy goal, I think. I had a good look at the boot lid arrangements which results in tucking away the hood providing no rear visibility problems – a neat solution to an old problem. One could image getting one’s golf clubs out from the boot with the lid in its raised position. With this spectre, fellow golfers will probably think one is James Bond – a unique selling point for sure. Anyway, it was a great party with some lovely food provided by Nicola and family. I’m already looking forward to the 2016 party – many thanks again to all involved.
Over the year, Mike Hughes and Dave Clarke have organised our visits to the regular classic car meets at the White Lion near Hartley Wintney. These were immensely pleasurable with car enthusiasts sharing their stories and experiences like the old days. Sadly, as the land used has now been sold, this meeting has come to an end. I would like to thank Mike Hughes and Dave Clarke for being our men-on-the-ground for these events; let’s hope something like this can continue somewhere in the near future. These events were most welcome with the hundreds of owners of classic cars that attended.
Looking towards 2016, we have a Centre dinner in January, we also plan to continue with our National Trust visits and we may indeed have a weekend away on the late spring. We have many other ideas – please watch this place. However, if any of you would like to offer up an idea or would like to organise an event please come forward. The Committee will be pleased to help you.
Also, for 2016 we shall be rebooting our Centre Trophies. For the Centre Dinner we intend to award the following awards:
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Richard Thorne Charity Trophy – for the Centre member that has raised the most monies for charity in conjunction with an event to has involved Morgan Sports Cars;
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The SGT Trophy – for the Centre member that has best demonstrated the spirit of Morganeering and its camaraderie;
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The FH Douglas mileage trophy – for the Centre member that has travelled the farthest distance in the Morgan during the year;
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The spirit of competition trophy – for the Centre member that has competed in the Morgan sports car with the great gusto.
If you would like to send to me nominees for the SGT Trophy, please do. Also, if you have used your Morgan for a charity event please let me know also, along with the amount of money you have raised. Please send your mileage if you would like to enter the race for the FH Douglas Trophy and if you have competed in your Morgan: please let me know what you have been up to. And all these trophies will be awarded at the January Centre Dinner. At the dinner we have arranged a rather special guest speaker - see details below.
The other trophies will resume at the start 2016. We will send you details soon.
A new batch of the Thames Valley Centre Car badge, as depicted in the logo associated with the Centre’s reports in Miscellany, should now be with us. This is the round badge design. The badge comes in a choice of one of five colours: red, white and blue, remember those Minis in the Italian Job movie, plus green and black. If you order a car badge you can choose one of these five colours, but as we can only order a limited number of each colour, choice of colour will be on a first come first served basis. We are taking orders now, please be quick as we feel these badges will be popular. What wonderful New Year presents they will be for the lucky people that get bought one.
Please note on the January 1st there is the Phoenix Inn Classic Car meeting near Hartley Wintney – please see details below. This is always an enjoyable day out.
Looking ahead a little further into the New Year, on Saturday 16th January – please note the date has been change due to availability of the dining area - we will be holding an annual Centre Dinner at the Bird In Hand. During the evening we will be awarding Centre Trophies. Tim Jones has organised for Air Commodore Andy Hall, MBE, RAF, Commandant General RAF Regiment and Air Officer RAF Police to be our guest speaker for the occasion. He is responsible for all aspects of Force Protection for the RAF worldwide in peace and war - a huge job with many unusual dimensions e.g. he provided the helicopter-borne snipers overhead the London Olympic Games. Our esteemed guest will also help in the award of our trophies. Please watch this space. If you would like to attend our dinner please contact Mike Aldrich. Places will be booked on a first come first served basis. It should be an immensely agreeable evening. I look forward to seeing you there.
Looking further ahead, I am pleased to announce the date of AGM on Thursday 21st April starting at 19:30. I hope you will be able to join us all.
As this is the January edition of Miscellany, I would like to wish all readers of this column a prosperous New Year. I hope you will all have a peaceful time and above all you will all enjoy good health. I look forward to seeing you all soon in 2016.